The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-25

heavy bundle of wheat every ten feet and
carry 1t to shock. And behind them.
also, rides a foreman to see that they do
their work promptly. And above them
blazes the fiery Dakota harvest sun. During
threshing it is the same. The steam thresher
never tires. The men who pitch bundles in
the field have each to pitch to a certain
number of wagons. The men who drive
have to unload their wagons. The men
who feed the straw into the iron-tooth
mouth of the machine have to feed all that
Is brought to them. On one side of the
machine the grain pours out of a spout and
Us loaded directly into wagons and hauled to
the garner There are Just sufficient men
to do the work. For twelve hours every
day they work laboriously, and are driven
steadily by hard-faced foremen. 1t is not
farming. 1t Is the manufacture of wheat
which is being carried on
The products of small farms cannot COM
pete with these so-called bonanza farms any
more successfully than the output of vii
lage blacksmith's shop could compete with
that from the Novelty Iron Works. think
the system is detrimental to the best inter
ests OF the country, just as monopolies and
syndicates are, but in the competitive age
In which we live, when the law of the sur
vlval of the fittest (which means in indus
trial pursuits the cheapest producer) is in
In full operation, think that these great
farms, which are managed as manufac-
turing Industries are, will be found to be
necessary to enable us to hold
the consuming markets of the world. They
are the outgrowth of competition. Where
they are established trade languishes, towns
cease to grow, merchants are forced out of
business and schoolhouses are empty. There
are no children in that land For a month
In the spring and for forty days i'll the sum-
mer and fall the air hanging over the DO
mama farms resounds with the hum of in
dustry: Then all is silent and the country
Is desolate until the next spring. But wheat
has been produced cheaply, though no hap
piness has followed, as it legitimately should,
to the men who titled the soil.
Where do the men who handle these i'm
mense crops of wheat come from2 That
question can not be answered accurately.
Casselton is squalid frontier town 1t con
s1sts of one main street, which faces she
railroad and which is built up on one side
only. A back street runs parallel to the
main street, and there are two or three
short and weed-grown cross streets. Cas-
selton is dirty, and when first saw it. two
weeks ago, it was full of dirty, idle men.
Americans, Scandinavians and Irishmen
swarmed along its main street and congre-
gated in foul-smelling crowds around the
doors of saloons, where empty beer kegs af-
forded seats. This crowd of ragged, dirty
half-drunken men were migratory harvest
tramps, who were waiting to be hired.
Where they come from and where
they go to is unknown to man. As
harvest approaches they crawl out of freight
cars which stop at Casselton. They are
seen walking along the dusky, hot highways
which lead to this town. They arrive during
the night. They SLOUGH into town by day
1t matters not how or when they arrive
they are, with the exception of the Scandi.
navians, almost invariably dead broke
dirty and hungry. About 500 of these
migratory people arrive at Casselton in time
to assist in harvest and thrashing, which
last about forty days. They are paid 81 per
day. SO they earn about $50 each during
the Dakota harvest. They, again excepting
the Scandinavians, almost to a man leave
CasseltOn dead broke. They mysteriously
disappear. They are agricultural tramps
FRANK WILKESoN.